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NEW YORK --- No matter how we analyze why Greg Racelis lost in his bid for a council seat in the Jersey City municipal government, we’ll end up faulting ourselves as a community. And to say that local politicians -- Ador Equipado, Linda Mayo and Flor Medel -- were lukewarm during the Racelis campaign because of their current position in government is a lot of hogwash.
Whether or not they liked to be seen actively campaigning for Racelis is not the point. Rather, they were simply playing it safe; contented at protecting their office which they owe to their political lords. And of course, who would want to lose their seeming “influence” in local politics and “visibility” in the community which they could brag about at every opportunity? None of the three who boast of being pioneers in Jersey City politics would.
At least, Racelis was gutsy to quit Lou Manzo’s campaign to support another candidate, who eventually failed to make it in the ballot. That was during the special elections to fill the remaining term of the late Mayor Glenn Cunningham. Or when he said he was supporting Cunningham instead of Tom DeGise. That was when Cunningham won the mayoral elections. I give Racelis credit for standing firmly on his ground on those two occasions.
But talk about the three political appointees. Have they done anything other than being a “yes” man or woman? That is because they’ve always wanted to be in the good graces of their patrons and saying no is not in their vocabulary.
There is no question, however, that Racelis bears the ultimate responsibility for his lost. There is no need to sugar-coat that fact. As someone said, if I hadn’t nudged him to act, he would have not come out with his ads and campaigned actively. I don’t know that for sure but a review of events after my initial commentary about his candidacy leads me to believe that the assumption is correct.
There are critical factors that I think led to Racelis loss. It’s not an exhaustive list but simple observations, which future candidates can learn from.
First up was his indecision. As many have surmised, Racelis had a wait-and-see attitude; he wasn’t really decided to run until the last minute. By then there was no time to plan a campaign strategy.
Second was his lack of preparation. A strategy would have considered who he was running with and a choice of a ward or at-large seat, demographics, and most of all, reaching out to unify his foes and critics with those who support him. If he was able to convince Lito Gajilan, Jr., publisher of this newspaper to his side, what more if he did the same to others notwithstanding sins or omissions of the past.
If he sought Jun Florentino’s support who ran in the same ward previously, he would shared his experience and given him some pointers. Florentino received more votes four years ago than what Racelis got this year. That alone tells you something.
But as always, there are people like Racelis who cannot swallow their pride. They think of others like Florentino as a competitor and therefore, a threat to their political ambition or business. Both Racelis and Florentino are realtors.
Some say that if he ran for an at-large council seat, he would have had a better shot at winning it. But wasn’t he an at-large candidate previously?
Third, his campaign headquarters should have been manned by political operatives not by those engage in realty office chores. As a result, coordination of different activities as well as communication with the public and volunteers were compromised. Not that I mind but putting his wife or someone from his realty office to man the phones wasn’t a good plan.
As a result, callers or experienced operatives like Ernie Gange of Pennsylvania who wanted to help out in his campaign felt ignored. Racelis did not return their calls. I had the same experience; on my third call, his wife answered the phone to tell me that Greg was already out of the office. There is no excuse for not returning telephone calls – it’s a simple courtesy.
Again, we all can learn from this recent experience. What I thought of a politics that was pregnant with a renewed fervor and ready to give birth didn’t happen. Even though I am inclined to give up hope in Jersey City, I am still encouraged to press on. I am convinced that our day will come. Someday.
And when that day comes, I hope it is not about the same people from the past but from a crop of new breed of politicians who are being developed today. And with any luck, our community would have achieved unity regardless of regional differences. That’s a big challenge for Jersey City.
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